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THIRTY-TWO
Josie froze in place when the bear loped around the side of the building, maneuvering through two feet of snow with far more grace and finesse than any human she had ever known. It paused when it reached the path they’d carved so they could move among the camp buildings. Its snout lifted, scenting the air. Above, Sandrine stepped out of the main house. Without looking around, she made her way down the steps. Before Josie could call out to her and warn her about the bear, she disappeared into her cabin. If the bear noticed her, it gave no indication.
Josie watched as it scented the air once more and then lumbered off toward the trees, a massive dark splotch against the snow. She wasn’t going anywhere just yet. She wanted to give the bear time to get far from the camp. Closing the door firmly, she hurried back to the spot where she best got service and tapped in a response to Gretchen.
Not sure what’s going on. These people might not be who they claim to be but I think their stories are real. Can you or Heather try to track them down? Check news articles? Reports from local PDs?
She was typing in the rest when Gretchen came back with:
Tell me what you know.
Josie’s freezing fingers flew across the screen. She racked her brain for every detail of what each one of them had said during the week. Brian and the group home fire. Nicola’s sister and her abduction by the ice cream truck driver. Josie had no idea what type of accident had killed Taryn’s parents, but she did know that Taryn’s husband had died in a tragic boating accident involving a rogue whale. Again, it was the sort of specific detail that Josie doubted had been made up. She gave her best guesses at the time frames and locations of each of their stories.
A few minutes later, Gretchen responded.
We’ll see what we can dig up. Again, watch your back.
Josie wanted to get back to the main house but she couldn’t resist asking.
Have you heard from Noah?
Still working on getting in touch with him. Chief is going to drive up there in the morning. He’ll find Noah. Then all he’ll have to do is be himself and emergency services will have you off that mountain in no time at all.
In spite of the grim circumstances, Josie smiled at the joke. She did feel reassured that Chief Chitwood was personally inserting himself, but her gut burned with fear. Cell service was limited in the more remote places of Sullivan County, but it wasn’t impossible to find. Why wasn’t Noah in touch with the rest of the team? Or trying to get in touch with her? Had something happened to him? Her hands trembled at the thought. Suddenly, the argument they’d had seemed inconsequential.
Aren’t you disappointed?
Yes. Of course she was. Why had she expected him to feel any differently? They were in this together. They faced and endured everything together. He’d been by her side for years now, even before they became romantically involved. He had never wavered in his feelings for her. Why had she thought that this one thing would change that? After he’d gone to such great lengths to reassure her that it wouldn’t? Why hadn’t she believed him? He was the one who’d wanted to talk things out after they got the news. She had shut him down. That’s what she did. When things got too difficult emotionally, when they hit too close to the torn and tender parts of her that had been wounded in childhood, she shut down. Better to close off every avenue that might lead to pain than to face her fear, which had been imprinted upon her by Lila Jensen, that she wasn’t good enough. That she wasn’t lovable. Not really. Because what kind of person didn’t inspire love in her own mother?
But Lila wasn’t her mother. That had been a massive lie.
And yet, the wounds Lila had inflicted were permanent and irrevocable. It didn’t matter that Josie now knew, decades after the fact, that Lila wasn’t her mother—that her real mother had been out there somewhere pining for her all along. Josie had believed that Lila was her mother and Lila had tortured her. It was a cut so deep that it had never healed. Not even with the love and devotion of her grandmother or her first husband. She’d lost them both and still blamed herself. She blamed herself for Mettner’s death, too. If she was a better person, stronger, faster, smarter, more worthy—the kind of person whose own mother could love her—they’d all still be alive.
She was old enough and wise enough now to understand that, factually, that wasn’t how things worked. She’d been an innocent child stolen away from the people who loved her. Lila’s behavior toward her was not a reflection on Josie, but on Lila herself. Josie’s worth was not the determining factor in anything, really. People hurt people. She couldn’t stop that. No one could. She couldn’t stop a cold-blooded killer from taking Mettner away from them. She couldn’t stop Ray or Lisette from coming after her in her time of need and then being killed. They’d loved her. Like Noah. Obviously, he still loved her enough to come after her in blizzard conditions. No disappointment, no matter how big, was going to stop him from coming for her, from wanting her unconditionally.
“I’m so dumb,” she mumbled to herself.
Tears stung her eyes. Quickly, she brought up his name in her contacts, making sure she got his cell number. She tried to call him. The first time, the call didn’t go through. The second time, it rang twice before dropping. The third time it rang until the voicemail picked up. The sound of his voice almost brought her to her knees. She swallowed over the lump in her throat just as the beep sounded. “Noah,” she said, voice coming out higher than she intended. She tried again. “Noah, it’s me. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t talk it out with you. I should have given you a chance. I love you. I hope you’re okay. Please come as soon as you can. I—”
The call died before she could go on.
She considered trying again but she needed to get back to the main house. Outside, darkness was closing in. She hadn’t brought a lantern with her. Her thoughts turned from Noah to her current situation. She was stuck on this mountain with three people who had intentionally concealed their identities to get some sort of information out of Sandrine. If it was personal information they were after, did that mean they were the ones who had planted the cameras? Obviously, they didn’t know about Pennsylvania’s two-party consent law when it came to audio recordings. Then again, even residents of Pennsylvania weren’t always aware of it.
What had they hoped to get out of Sandrine? What was so important that they would go to so much trouble? It clearly wasn’t the horrific story of Sandrine’s childhood. They’d all seemed ill-prepared for that. What, then? Whatever it was, had one of them been willing to kill to conceal their intent? Or were they all in on Meg’s death? Had she seen or heard something that either one or all of them hadn’t wanted her to know?
Another thought occurred to Josie. Where did Cooper fit in? Was he somehow involved? Why hadn’t anyone heard from him since he left them on the mountain? Why hadn’t he returned? Had Meg confided in him about whatever it was she’d seen or heard? Was that what they’d been discussing during the week? Had it gotten him killed as well? Would his body be found somewhere farther down the path to the road? Had the three liars conspired to kill him and Meg both, to hide what they were planning?
If that was the case, it meant that Josie, Sandrine, and Alice were all in danger.
“Shit.”
Josie pocketed her phone and stepped outside. It was completely dark now. She followed the lights of the main house up the path. Bursting through the front door, she saw that Brian was wrapped in a blanket, ensconced in one of the chairs by the wood stove. Josie sprinted toward the breakout room that she, Sandrine, Alice, and Taryn had claimed for their own. She threw the door open, relieved to see Sandrine asleep, curled up on her mattress and, across the room, Alice sitting cross-legged on hers, scribbling in her journal.
Alice looked up at her and smiled. Her pen stilled, hovering over the page. As she studied Josie’s face, her smile disappeared. “Josie, is everything okay?”
Josie looked behind her. Brian’s head was visible over the back of the chair he sat in but he was too far to hear her words. “I just wanted to check on you.”
Or maybe he wasn’t. He lurched upward, the legs of his chair moaning against the wooden floor. Josie’s heart was in her throat. There was no way for him to know, she reminded herself. There was no way for any of them to know that she’d discovered they were lying. She watched as he crossed the room. He stopped just before he reached Josie, turning his head toward the kitchen. “Nic?” he called.
